State May Take Stand Against Darfur Genocide

Plan Would Allow Nappier To Divest Funds From Companies Doing Business In Sudan

February 24, 2006|By MARK PAZNIOKAS; Courant Staff Writer

State Treasurer Denise L. Nappier wants Connecticut to become the fourth state to take a stand against genocide in Sudan by pressuring corporate America.

Nappier outlined legislation Thursday that would authorize her to divest state pension funds from companies with ties to the east African nation.

As much as $1 billion of Connecticut's $22 billion pension fund could be affected by legislation that has the backing of Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, and House Majority Leader Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden.

The Darfur region of Sudan has become synonymous with human suffering in recent years. Western governments charge that the Sudanese government sponsors Arab militias to carry out a policy of genocide against non-Arab rebels in the nation's western region.

``Connecticut must stand up and be counted, and we must pursue every available path to stop the genocide being inflicted on hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Darfur,'' Nappier said.

The call for divestment is an echo of past campaigns to pressure South Africa to end apartheid and Great Britain to withdraw from Northern Ireland.

It has been picked up on college campuses, most recently by Yale University, and by officials who control billions of dollars in public pension funds nationwide.

In December, the nation's richest public pension fund, the California Public Employees Retirement Plan, demanded that three companies, ABB, Alcatel and Siemens, withdraw from Sudan.

Nappier said the divestment law would be a tool she would use sparingly. Actual divestment would be a last resort only after a period of ``constructive engagement,'' or lobbying target companies.

A challenge will be separating companies whose business is propping up the Sudanese government from those providing goods and services that alleviate suffering, Nappier said.

Connecticut would join Illinois, New Jersey and Oregon with laws relating to investments in Sudan. Dozens of other states are considering similar legislation.

California's pension board was able to act without new legislation.

Connecticut joined other institutional investors last year to urge the federal government to establish a list of businesses operating in Sudan.

Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, one of the bill's co-sponsors, said ``Today, Connecticut is putting its money where its mouth is and its heart is.''